Path: msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!news.sprintlink.net!hookup!noc.tor.hookup.net!news From: mchepeka@microstar.com () Newsgroups: comp.text.sgml Subject: Microstar announces release of NEAR & FAR Author Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 21:14:21 GMT Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Oakville, Ontario, CANADA Lines: 100 Message-ID: <49fu4r$cup@noc.tor.hookup.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: blackhole.microstar.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent v0.55 FOR RELEASE IMMEDIATELY MICROSTAR ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF NEAR & FAR(r) AUTHOR, STRUCTURED AUTHORING ENVIRONMENT FOR MICROSOFT(r) WORD 6.0 OTTAWA, CANADA, November 27, 1995 -- Microstar Software Ltd. today announced the release of NEAR & FAR Author, its structured, graphical authoring product for Word. Designed as a Word add-on, NEAR & FAR Author enables writers to create structured documents based on the international standard, SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) right in their familiar Word environment with no knowledge of SGML required. "No other software today lets authors create and edit structured documents quickly and easily with no knowledge of SGML required -- all inside their Microsoft Word environment," said Shaun McEwan, Microstar's President. NEAR & FAR Author uses a graphical document model to act as the document's structure guide. Work can be stored as a Word document or easily saved as an SGML file. Writers can import and export SGML documents and format or print the documents using Word's extensive feature set. NEAR & FAR Author's key user-driven features include: *Quick startup *Graphical tree map of document model *Intuitive interface *On-line author's guide *Continuous validation *Requires no knowledge of SGML syntax *Interactive DTD view *WYSIWYG on-screen display Peter Jordan, Microstar's Chairman and CEO, explained that SGML documents are "intelligent documents." "Intelligent documents save businesses time and money. Information can be standardized and reused, at the same time that issues like document conversion are eliminated. With NEAR & FAR Author for Word, corporations are taking the first step towards enterprise-wide document management." "Not many writers know SGML, but almost everyone knows Microsoft Word. That gives us a bigger pool of resources to draw from and we can eliminate the time spent training writers how to produce SGML-compliant documents," said Brian Fitzpatrick, of US-based Information Handling Services, an information access solutions provider. Jordan also pointed out, "With the introduction of NEAR & FAR Author, businesses that want structured documents do not need to invest heavily in tools and retraining. They also gain the added advantage of a wider variety of publishing destinations including CD-ROM and the World Wide Web." * Microstar's introductory pricing for NEAR & FAR Author is $249 (US) per copy, 30% off the regular retail cost until January 31, 1996. -30- Microstar Software Ltd. is a publicly traded software and services company listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange (MSS). NEAR & FAR and C.A.D.E. are registered trademarks of Microstar Software Ltd. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. For more information please contact: Mandy Chepeka Marketing Communications Specialist Microstar Software Ltd. 3775 Richmond Road Nepean, Ontario Canada K2H 5B7 Ph: 613-596-2233 Fx: 613-596-5934 Internet: mchepeka@microstar.com OR Cathy Browne Account Director Hill & Knowlton 55 Metcalfe St., Suite 1300 Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1P6L5 Ph: 613-786-9951 Fx: 613-238-8642 Internet: cbrowne@ott.hillknowlton.ca .